<div class="bbWrapper">Alright, let's go. Enough back and forth. Enough second guessing every single thing. I've brought this idea up with a few other people and it's the first one I've had that has pretty positive feedback.<br />
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1) General whole house checklist<br />
- I haven't seen a service like that, but I'm sure it exists? Plenty of people around the area I live have lawn services and maid services. Why not a service that goes inside the house and maintains everything on a schedule? Filter changeouts, smoke alarm testing, hot water heater PRV check, checking drainage/gutters, etc. All of the things you are SUPPOSED to do, but no one ever does? Then prepare a report that shows the equipment they have, age of the equipment, estimated life, etc. Almost a way to budget ahead for potential equipment replacements.<br />
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The web design idea was great, and maybe in a far fetched future land I can start a second business doing that, but I want this one.<br />
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I pulled out an old copy of the $100 startup and the "one-page business plan" to fill out. Here is what I've come up with. All of this is initial marketing/planning. I am fully open to modify/shift as I grow.<br />
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What will you sell?<br />
Full service interior home maintenance. Depending on level of contract, that would be monthly or quarterly. I will not recommend anything less than that, because the entire point is to service your house seasonally and keep things running smoothly. Be proactive instead of reactive. Protect your biggest investment.<br />
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Who will buy it?<br />
Homeowners who do not/cannot maintain their home and equipment. At this time I don't think I will target landlords or anything larger because that becomes a property management group. Always room to pivot, and never say never. Just not to start. My initial target market is older couples/widows/widowers. My mother in law is exactly the type of customer I'm thinking about. Every time I go to her house there is a list of things to do and help her with. A handyman could easily handle several of the items/repairs on the list, but most people would not call a handyman to replace your HVAC filters or drain your hot water tank to clean out sediment. <br />
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How will your business idea help people?<br />
"Protect your Greatest Investment." In my area so many people pay for lawn care and maid services, but no one even thinks about the things you CAN'T see. And when it breaks? Get ready to pull out the wallet for emergency fees and after hour HVAC service. I would do an initial equipment review of the home and make a checklist of items that should be done. As time goes on I will build a database of equipment and it will become easier to put together the initial plans because most air handlers will have the same items to maintain. I have no problem posting these checklists for people to use themselves when I have a website going. Most of the "house checklists" that I've looked for are not intuitive and just clunky. I will make them easy to read, and by all means do it yourself. If you don't want to, then call us. An additional benefit of working with us is I will provide an equipment list with a picture of each piece of equipment, model info, age (assuming I can figure that out from the model tag) and manufacturer's recommended maintenance routine and schedule. It will also have an average "lifespan" of the item, so you can get an idea of when you should budget for a new one. <br />
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What will you charge?<br />
No clue, this is the biggest part I haven't figured out yet. <br />
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How will you get paid?<br />
Service contracts. Monthly or Quarterly. Better pricing for extended contracts. Optional service of just "handling" other items and sub-contracting them out? I don't know about that one, just floating. Will completely depend on if I'm asking to provide it, then I absolutely will.<br />
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How else will you make money from this project?<br />
Could work out a referral program for local contractors that I trust, and when we're asked on site who could perform work I would pass their info. I would not simply provide a name of the highest bidder. I will only suggest someone I would also let into my house.<br />
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How will customers learn about your business?<br />
In the beginning, word of mouth. I understand that seems lazy, but my target market is not completely tech savvy. My mother-in-law is not going to see a facebook ad or see a targeted ad on google for "home maintenance contract." She's going to make an off hand comment at her bunco game or garden club about something breaking in her house, and one of her other friends may have an answer.<br />
I would also have fliers, and maybe even advertise in the local paper? Again, not looking for sexy advertising. I want to advertise where my target market would actually see it.<br />
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How can you encourage referrals?<br />
Not sure. Free month? Haven't figured this one out yet either.<br />
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Project will be successful when it achieves these metrics:<br />
I have an annual net income number that would allow me to quit my job, and also pay for the "perks" that a job gives you. e.g. insurance, car, phone, computer, etc. Things that seem like massive perks, but at the end of the day it's just another shackle.<br />
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Specific concerns at this stage:<br />
1) How to find time to perform the work with a 50+hour a week job currently.<br />
1b) If I decide to hire a tech instead of performing the service myself, how to pay up front? <br />
2) What to charge?<br />
3) Where do I end the service? If I'm in your house and you have something broken, do I help and fix it? Does the service almost become a "honey-do-list" crusher and you are just helping people fix things around their house? I think that's getting too broad, but I could be wrong.<br />
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There are plenty of other concerns, but I want the MVP at this point and to get out there. I don't want to figure out how to have a team of techs upload their work orders on an app after geofencing at a customers location. <br />
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Proposed solution to concerns at this stage:<br />
1) I have plenty of buddies in the HVAC industry that are service techs. I would love to get a contract in hand, and then pay them out of that. In the beginning, even if I had 5 brand new customers that would be (at most) 5 visits in the first month. Most of the larger items in your house wouldn't need more than once a month service. They could schedule me for those visits and then do other jobs.<br />
2) The only thing I can think of is treat my house, my parents and my mother-in-law as a "customer" and do an estimate of their house. Then actually time all of this work at my own house, and figure a rate? I don't know.<br />
3) It's against everything in the business model, but I know that in the early stages if I am running a job, I will probably do extra work for them to be nice and not increase the rate. If I have multiple visits in a single day that will be an issue, but I don't see that happening for a while. I think I will have to cross this one when I get there.<br />
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And that's it. That's the plan.<br />
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I'd say my next action item is to treat my house like a customer. Go through, take pictures of every single piece of equipment and put together a check list. Then maybe send it to my wife and see what she likes and doesn't like. After a full test run on my house, I could do a 2nd and 3rd run on my parents and my mother-in-laws. That would give me 3 full test cases, and would be useful for marketing to show examples.<br />
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There were a couple of concerns about "strange people in their homes." I mean, doesn't that apply to every single service business? Maids, plumbers, contractors, etc. I will deal with that complaint if I have actual customers that are concerned.<br />
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Absolutely failure worst case scenario? I just gave my parents and my mother-in-law a document that will help them with their house equipment.<br />
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I honestly don't believe a website is the best first step here. Am I wrong? I get much more of a rise out of the "unsexy business" thread or whenever I see a Mike Rowe video. <br />
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Brain dump over. I should hopefully be updating this soon when results from my 1st test (my home).</div>
